


Help

by TVgirll1971



Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26376289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TVgirll1971/pseuds/TVgirll1971
Summary: Susan's out of her element when she volunteers to make a birthday cake for her niece, so she calls Ray for help.
Relationships: Ray Prince/Susan Sampson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Help

**Author's Note:**

> So, I actually gave this prompt to MissThang616, then later tried to see if I could actually do it myself. Here's what I came up with---it's not near as good as MissThang616's romantic stories, but I hope it's fairly cute. Plus, I snuck in some backstory stuff. I always find that interesting.

“Help! I need help, quick!” Susan called Ray in a panic.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, on alert.

“I’m trying to make this stupid cake for my niece’s birthday party and I have NO IDEA what I’m doing! Can you come over?”

Ray smiled. “I’ll be right there.”

“Thank God, you’re here.” Susan exclaimed as she let Ray inside. 

“What’s up?” he asked.

“What’s up is, like an idiot, I told my sister, Irene, I’d make a _tres leches_ cake for her daughter’s birthday. I don’t know what I was thinking. She was going on about how little time she has, she’s SO busy” Susan said with an eye roll. “She doesn’t even have time to make a cake. Then she starts talking about how delicious our mother’s cake is and she feels so bad she doesn’t have enough time what with her job and the kids and at least I have some downtime because I don’t have a family. Like what the hell is that supposed to mean? So, I tell her I’ll do it! Then like an imbecile, I completely forgot the third _leche_. So I doubled up on the second _leche_ , figuring you wouldn't be able to tell, but you can tell. You can totally tell!”

“What’s a tre leeche cake?” Ray asked.

“ _Tres leche_ ,” she corrected. “It means three milks—condensed milk, evaporated, and heavy cream. Only, I forgot to get evaporated milk if I don't fix this I’m going to hear about for the rest of my life!”

“What didn’t you say so on the phone? I could’ve picked some up?”

Susan groaned. “Because I panicked, okay?”

“Okay, relax. I think I might be able to do something,” he said, taking out his iPhone. After a few minutes, he yelled out. “Yes! All I have to do is make it myself.”

“You can do that?” Susan asked, leaning in to see what was on his IPhone.

Ray pointed to the page on his screen. Then he went to work. Susan had to admit—it did seem fairly simple. Just simmer the milk for a while, stirring regularly.. Susan marveled at him, hunched over painstakingly removing the top layer as it rose to the top. She couldn’t believe it. The man had trouble setting up his GPS, yet here he was making evaporated milk from scratch. While waiting for the milk to cool, he asked to see the cake recipe. 

He scanned the paper she gave him for a second, and said. “It’s in Spanish.”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Susan grabbed the paper back. “Give me that. I’ll translate.”

Susan watched him making the cake. He seemed so methodical—cracking the eggs, adding the melted butter, adding sugar, etc, his brow lined in thought. He was actually concentrating on what he was doing. For the most part, Ray was laid back and lax, but he seemed so serious here. 

“Where’d you learn how to cook?” she finally asked.

Ray looked up and shrugged. “Took some classes in France.”

Susan chucked. “Really? You actually signed up for a cooking class?”

“Well, yeah, I was with…” he looked up at Susan and pivoted. “I was, bored. That’s all.”

“Bored my ass.” Susan thought to herself with amusement. “Bet there was a girl.” Out loud she simply said. “And you liked it?”

Ray shrugged. “Yeah. Didn’t think I would but it was kind of interesting.”

“My mother tried to teach us all how to cook.” Susan said. “She wanted us to be perfect little _ama di casas_ \--housewives. I mean she didn’t have a problem with us having careers but she felt we still had to maintain the home in a respectable fashion. My sisters did fairly well at it. Me, I was a constant source of disappointment.”

“I doubt that.” Ray replied, good-naturally.

“No, it’s true.” She insisted. “Susan! Get your nose out of that book and help me clean! “No, you need to vacuum the corners! “You need to pleat the bed sheets when you put them on the bed!” “Do you even watch when I cook?” “Why can’t you be more like your sisters?” “Oh, my God. It drove me _loco_. And my sisters were no help—“it’s not that hard, Susan.” (Susan rolled her eyes here) “I guess, that’s why I told Irene I’d make her daughter’s cake. I wanted to prove to her that I could. Apparently, I can’t.”

“So what?” Ray asked. “I’d give anything to be as smart as you. My brother and sisters-- all got A’s, me not so much. My pop used to complain that I didn’t apply myself. My brother, Matt, was all “Just play the game,. Hunker down, study, he won’t get on your back as much. “ He was probably right. I just never felt like studying. There was always more interesting things to do. Maybe that was true for you—only you found books more interesting than doing this other stuff. Don’t understand why.” He shrugged.

Susan smiled. Ray might not be book smart, but sometimes he’d have these little pearls of wisdom. As she reached up and touched his hair, she said, “Thank you for helping me.”

"You're welcome." he responded, his sweet smile on his face.

Then they kissed.

**Author's Note:**

> The line about forgetting one leche, doubling up on the other, and being able to tell, came from ep. "Sweet Sixteen" of Love, Victor (2020).


End file.
